“Music 2.0” May Actually Get Some Sort Of Meaning Behind it

noah | May 22, 2008 2:30 am

Are you as weary of people throwing around the phrase “music 2.0” as I am? Wondering just how long music was in beta before the version-two release of the form that we’re apparently currently living in, according to certain tag-cloud-obsessed pundits? Well, you may be relieved/chagrined to know that a group of engineers hard at work in Korea has come up with an actual thing that they want to refer to as “music 2.0.” OK, so it’s just the MT9, a new-generation digital-music file that allows people to tweak the mixes of each element in a particular piece of music. But anytime a colloquialism goes from “stupid buzzword” to “something that may have an actual product behind it, even if that product is just a bunch of zeroes and ones,” we should all cheer, if only because in these times, it’s nice when words actually, y’know, gain meaning instead of having any semblance of definition Hoovered out of the nooks and crannies between their letters.

The distinctive feature of MT9 format is that it has a six-channel audio equalizer, with each channel dedicated to voice, chorus, piano, guitar, base and drum. For example, if a user turns off the voice channel, it becomes a karaoke player. Or one can turn off all the instruments and concentrate on the voice of the main singer as if he or she is singing a cappella.

Ham says that the music industry should change its attitude to the market as music is becoming a digital service, rather than a physical product. MT9 is the ideal fit for the next generation of music business because it can be used for multiple services and products, such as iPhones, PCs, mobile phones and karaoke bars, he says.

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are both interested in equipping their mobile phones with an MT9 player and their first commercial products are likely to debut early next year, he said.

The people who designed the files said they “don’t want to be too fussy” about digital-rights management, which is probably for the best as far as portability of the format goes–not to mention the 10000% obvious advantage for at-home karaoke aficionados who want to have fun with the songs that haven’t shown up on Oxygen’s Karaoke On Demand channel yet. (Once this thing launches, I am so buying “I’m In Love With My Car” first thing, unless individual songs wind up costing $4. Ah, crap, they are going to wind up costing that much, aren’t they?)

New MP3 Revolutionizes Way You Listen To Music [Korea Times]